Hey, Kid!
by freakochicko
Summary: “For one, we don’t speak Preppy Talk. ‘Dude’, ‘chill out’, ‘wicked awesome’, ‘holy cow’, and ‘frickin’ Jebus!’ are words that do not exist in our vocab, kiddo.” Axel was just as eloquent as ever. AKUROKU.
1. Pink Lockers and Preppy Talk

**Disclaimer: **You would be nuts to think I own Kingdom Hearts.

**A/N:** Well, here's a brand new fic from me to the masses out there. It makes me happy that I can contribute to the Kingdom Hearts fandom once more. Anyhoo, it came to me one night as a nagging plot bunny and refused to leave me alone until I got it down on paper. So, here's chapter one. Hopefully this goes somewhere in the not so distant future.

-

"Hey, _Rox_! You going for b-ball training after school?" an energetic brunette called out from across the hallway just as Roxas was about to head into his next class.

Roxas whipped his head around to see Sora waving cheerily at him and intently expecting a reply to his bubbly question. "Training?" Roxas repeated blankly, not comprehending. He scrunched up his face in deliberation, as though it would help him decipher what Sora had meant.

The brunette in question tilted his head to one side, his spiky brown hair swaying at the motion. "Uh, yeah, _training_. It's Wednesday, ain't it? We have training every Wednesday afternoon, or have you already forgotten?" Sora teased, and then sobered up when he heard the bell go off, signalling that he really had to be off to attend Biology or get yelled at _again_ by his teacher. "You going or what? Coach said there's gonna' be a friendly match between us and the Senior team as well, for the fun of it."

"Oh." Roxas _had_ forgotten about that. He'd been so caught up in all his activities in the past week that he'd forgotten that it was the day for basketball practice. "Yeah," the blonde said slowly, nodding in confirmation. "It's not like I'd go home without you anyways."

Sora's eyes twinkled as he bounced on the spot in his overly-large sneakers. "Yeah, thanks bro!" The brunette waved again, "I'm off to class. Kai's waiting." He turned, and then added loudly, "And if you see any of the Senior members before the match, tell them we're so totally gonna' trash them this time!"

Roxas snorted, highly doubting that their Junior team stood any small chance when faced up against the taller, more limber guys in the Senior (and far more _superior_) team. "Yeah, sure thing," Roxas promised weakly with a half-shrug, not willing to crush his brother's wild and delicate dreams.

And Sora beamed happily again and finally, he was gone, tottering away and melting into the crowd of students swarming to get to class.

Roxas rolled his eyes and squared his shoulders as he resumed walking through the narrow doorway of his next class. The teacher hadn't arrived yet and some students were still milling about the entrance, chattering away with friends. Trust _Sora_ to remind him of this afternoon's basketball session. It was true that he couldn't go home without his brother anyhow. They had, after all, signed up for the same after-school activities. If he arrived home without his twin brother, his parents would start to wonder if their little Roxie was skipping out on his after-school commitments.

Sora was his twin brother, sure. He didn't question _why_ that was the case in this existence. He supposed it only made sense that his former _Somebody_ was going to be as closely related to him as possible in this next life. Everything was just playing out naturally in this world, and in a way that wasn't as harsh as what it used to be. Sure, there weren't such things as Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts and Organization XIII, and no, Keyblades didn't exist. And if you claimed someone to be a Heartless, you were just going to be looked upon as a mental case. There was no such thing as magic and spells and stuff, and no one could just conjure up random Water Clones on a whim or spring a giant wall of fire up from the ground.

That was all in his past life. A life that him, and Sora, and just about everyone else previously involved seemed to remember and accept. But it wasn't important now. What was important was that in _this_ life, they at least had the opportunity to start something new and start _afresh_.

And the plus side was, Roxas still had his best friends, both his Twilight Town gang and the Organization. They made it through with him to this 'next life'. And most of them attended the very school he was in right now. And the best part of it all, he saw them all almost _every single day_.

The young teenager shuffled his way over to a desk situated somewhere at a relatively safe distance from the front of the classroom and plopped down onto his seat. He glanced around, noting that his usual group of friends hadn't even arrived yet. That was before Olette, a petite brown-haired girl in an orange top and a pair of khakis, walked into the room and called out to him in a voice of astonishment.

"Oh! Roxas, you're already here! Wow, this is a first!" she exclaimed, tossing her wavy hair over a shoulder as she headed in his direction.

Roxas smiled at the approaching girl and scratched the back of his head, almost embarrassed. "Yeah, decided to be early for once." He quickly motioned for her to sit beside him at the desk to his right. "Didn't really pay off though, looks like Mr Xemnas figured that today would be a good day to be late."

Olette laughed brightly as she settled down in her seat. "I saw him on the way in. He's dealing with Seifer outside down the hall right now. Almasy had apparently been vandalizing locker doors or something."

"Yeah? Well, I hope Xemnas gives him a month's worth of detention."

"Now that's pretty harsh," Olette chided him, but not unsmilingly.

Roxas tapped a pen against his desk and looked around once more. The class was now almost fully assembled and was beginning to quiet down. "Where's Hayner and the rest?"

Olette frowned. "I think he's faking sick, just to get out of first period with Xemnas."

"Oh." Roxas frowned. _Of course_. Wouldn't put it past Hayner, of all people, to try something like _that_. He knew the boy hated their History teacher. Mind, Roxas didn't like Xemnas either, and Xemnas didn't really give a rat's ass about Roxas anyway (not that he ever did in their previous life either). All the old man liked to do was ramble on and on and _on _in that boring drone of his with big, complicated words in a very History Professor-like manner. Quite frankly, Roxas could relate to Hayner's desperation of getting out of classes on a Wednesday morning.

"How about Pence?"

"Pence? Oh, he's _officially_ sick. He called the school this morning saying he wouldn't be attending classes today because of a doctor's appointment."

"Damn. And Nam?"

"She's being moved up a grade."

Roxas spluttered. "She's _what?_"

Just then, Xemnas walked in, a mildly annoyed expression gracing his haggard features. He stalked to the front desk and slammed his thick pile of textbooks and manuscripts down upon the wooden table, causing half the class to jump. Idle chitter-chatter died down instantly as all attention was suddenly focussed on the old geezer that stood, glaring daggers, before the class.

"In the course of today," Mr Xemnas boomed, "Mister Seifer Almasy will not be attending classes. Rather, he will spend the rest of the week _and _the whole of the following week in internal suspension within the Headmaster's office. Why is that, you ask? Let's just say he'll be repenting for his misdeed of spray painting the East Wing lockers a bright and sickly _pink_."

A fact. _'Pink?', 'I knew it! I knew he was fruity!', 'He's gay?', 'Hey! East Wing's where _my_ locker is!'… 'Two weeks internal suspension? With Saïx?! Man, that's gotta' suck.''_

"Damn! Seifer's reputation just went out the window, _ya know_?!" Rai blurted. Fuu, seated just behind the brawny boy, smacked him on the head with her textbook.

"_Everyone!_ Textbooks. Out. _Now_." Xemnas barked, patience already worn thinner than a sheet of paper. "Page twenty-eight! Section thirteen!"

Roxas, meanwhile, was still mentally digesting the fact that Naminé was not going to be in his History class anymore. Ever. He frowned and twirled his pen between his fingers, glancing sideways at Olette.

"Olette?" he whispered, receiving a distracted '_hmm?_' from the girl. "So she's really not going to be in this class anymore?"

"Yeah." Olette nodded. "You _know_ how advanced she is in History."

Roxas chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Okay… So… She won't be joining us for History for the _rest of the year_?"

Olette nodded. "She's also just advanced in Art," she sighed softly, "So she's no longer in my Art class either."

"No surprises there," Roxas muttered. Art was always Naminé's niche. He felt, however, a little disgruntled that one of his close friends had changed classes. Why didn't she _at least_ tell him beforehand? History was the one of the only class they had together apart from English and Physical Education.

"Well," he muttered, "least you've still got Kairi."

"Yeah, but I'll bet she's gonna' be real bummed out when she finds out about Nam."

"Then… uh," Roxas struggled for a moment, trying to wrap his head around how his pale, elfin friend managed to achieve such a feat. "So she's in Senior History and Art? I… I guess that probably means she'll be in some of Riku's classes. He takes those subjects too."

"Riku?" Olette questioned, confused.

Roxas shook his head. "He's one of my brother's best pals," he replied lowly, quickly glancing at Xemnas in case the man decided to throw him out of class for talking. "He usually hangs out at our place after school."

"Sora is best friends with someone in the Senior year?"

Roxas shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me. I'm best pals with most of the Senior year myself."

Olette smiled. "I know. Only because you've known them all your life, and _more_." There was something like sadness in her eyes – or maybe it was envy? Envy that she somehow missed out on some part of Roxas' life that she could never fathom? Roxas couldn't quite blame her for feeling the way she did towards his friends that he had made outside of a life she didn't know he had lived before. The girl sighed and gently smiled once more. "But, Roxas, you really have yet to let me, Hayner and Pence meet some of these friends of yours one day. I know Naminé hangs out with them quite a bit."

"Yeah… She does," he murmured, a tad reluctant. "I guess I could introduce you to the Organization. But I only really see most them during basketball practice." _Where they usually own our Junior asses._

"The… Organization…" Olette echoed. "Is that what they call themselves?"

Roxas smiled. "It's an ironic thing. See, there're only five of them in Senior year. Axel, Demyx, Larxene, Zexion and Luxord. The others are… around the place." He unconsciously glanced at the man in front of the room. Mr Xemnas. He was currently delivering a speech on the history of a small sleepy little town of Twilight, something that both Roxas and Olette would have been interested in, if not for the fact that they knew quite a bit of the town already.

"So the five of them are in a group they call 'The Organization'?"

"Yeah… Well, Organization _Five_, really" Roxas corrected. "Organization _Six_, whenever _I'm_ around."

Olette nodded understandingly.

"We used to be thirteen though. Before this life, I mean. I'm not sure but I think I told you about it befo -"

"Miss Olette and Mister Roxas!" Xemnas' loud voice sliced through the air and cut the blonde off in mid-sentence like a sharp whip.

Olette looked up guiltily. Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes. He was more irritated than apologetic.

"I would _appreciate_ it," Xemnas went on warningly, "if you two _didn't_ discuss issues of your life outside the classroom."

"But Mr Xemnas, _sir_," Roxas grounded out. He really didn't like calling this man 'sir', it was too much like Organization XIII all over again. "Um… We _were_ talking about things relating to History."

Olette blinked. Xemnas raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know if your 'past life' has any historical value," Xemnas said coldly.

Roxas' eyes narrowed as he glared at the man in front of the classroom. "If I recall correctly, you valued my life back then."

Many students looked on in unhidden confusion at this exchange.

"And If _I_ recall correctly, that was only before you decided to leave," Xemnas snapped, unperturbed that his class had no idea what he was wrangling with Roxas about.

"Yeah?" Roxas' voice hardened, temper flaring. A temper that Olette and his Twilight Town gang hardly ever experienced. "Well, you weren't exactly worth sticking around f -"

"Enough!" Xemnas snarled. "You're seeing me after class, _young man_."

Roxas crossed his arms and leant back in his chair in a huff, his blonde spikes falling into his eyes. _Young man_? Man, he really didn't like Xemnas at all, whether as his Superior or as a damn History teacher. It didn't help that Olette had sent him a reprimanding look that mothers usually reserved for their naughty kids. This day couldn't get any worse, surely.

And then, some kid in the front row shot up his hand and asked rather innocently: "Mr Xemnas, did Roxas use to be your son or something? Did he leave and run away from home?"

Roxas groaned. What… The _Hell_.

-

History ended late. It dragged on for another ten and a half minutes after the bell had long gone. As the class filed out, students rushing off to their next class fretfully, Roxas had to remain behind and explain himself to Mr Stick-Up-His-Ass Xemnas.

He ended up being lectured for another ten minutes about being more 'respectful of his elders', and if that wasn't enough, he was slapped in the face with a detention that afternoon with Mr Vexen.

"This has got to be a fucking _joke_." Roxas shook his head as he trudged out of classroom. The corridors were now empty, everyone was in class by now. Roxas' spirit was so dampened that he didn't really care. Detention meant that he couldn't attend basketball training that afternoon. Not attending basketball training that afternoon meant letting his brother and team down. It also meant he couldn't play against the Senior team. _Damn._ He was keen on playing against his Organization pals, even though he knew their worst player, Demyx, would probably still single-handedly hand their asses back to them on a plate.

He made his way slowly to his locker, not caring anymore that he'd be walking into his next class – English – extremely late. It didn't matter since Ms Lockhart doted on him anyways. As he rounded the corner to his locker wing, a voice called out to him (not for the first time that day) from behind.

"Yo, Rox!"

Roxas knew who it was before even turning around, and a smile replaced his frown immediately. "Skipping class again, huh?" The blonde turned in a half circle to smirkingly acknowledge his best friend from the grade above him. Axel. _Best friends_, no matter where they were or what they did.

"You know me, I ain't no goody two-shoes when it comes to education and being educated," Axel replied, closing the space between them in a few long strides and clapping the blonde on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Wagging class is second nature to me."

Roxas grinned at the redhead, "You never had any trouble following the rules way back when. What's the catch?"

"School bores me. Missions never did. Although that could've been due to the fact that I would've been eradicated if I didn't comply with the Orgy's silly, silly rules. In school, you say you're running a temp and they let you off the hook. They don't even bat an eyelid," he sang.

"I really _should_ introduce you to Hayner," Roxas laughed, remembering what Olette had said before.

Axel frowned at that. "Y'mean that other hot-headed blonde kid you used to hang out… er… you still hang out with him, huh? Yeah, I've seen him around. Don't think he likes me very much. Although that might have to do with the fight between him and Seifer a few weeks back, the one which I quite stupidly tried to intervene." The redhead laughed. "He tried to have a go at me after that. They _both_ did. Thank God I had backup. They're not exactly the scrawniest of kids."

"I was there," Roxas reminded him in amusement, recalling that he, Pence, Demyx and Luxord had to pry Hayner and Seifer off Axel, who lay face first in the dirt. Demyx received a black eye from that one incident and Axel, a broken nose. And then the Headmaster had appeared and yelled at them _all_ as though he still had moments where he went totally ape-shit berserk.

"What about you, Roxie?" Axel was saying, gesturing to the blonde and his surroundings in one sweeping hand motion, "You skipping classes too or what? That would be a first!"

Roxas shook his head. "Stupid Xemnas singled me out in History and I got friggin' pissed at him. So he gave me a damn sermon after class, basically telling me that I should shut the hell up when he's talking to me, and _then_ he slapped me with after-school detention today."

Axel blinked. "_What_? Do you realise what that bastard just deprived you of?"

"Yeah," Roxas muttered miserably. "Apart from my freedom and liberation, he totally ruined my chances of owning your ass in b-ball."

Axel's eyebrows shot up. "Huh," he muttered softly. Then he perked up and ruffled Roxas' hair affectionately. "Cheer up, shortie! _You_ can own _my_ ass anytime," the redhead chirruped brightly, not without a tone of underlying suggestiveness. "Just ask. I promise I'll say yes."

"Dude! We're in a school!" Roxas exclaimed, swatting Axel's hand away, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"… '_Dude'_?" Axel shook his head incredulously. "Man, oh man. I'm never gonna' to get used to you speaking to me in Kid Jargon. What happened to the _non-preppy_ Roxie I used to know? The one who loved to bite back at whatever I say – literally – and still love my charm at the same time?"

"Not my fault _you've _never experienced High School life before."

Axel shrugged. "I think you've just been hanging with your baby gang for far too long."

"And just _what_ do the guys in your circle of friends talk about, exactly? Adult stuff?"

Axel looked amused. "For one, we don't speak Preppy-Talk. _'Dude', 'chill out', 'wicked awesome', 'holy cow',_ and _'frickin' Jebus!'_ are words that do not exist in our vocab, kiddo."

"Uh… Excuse me? Demyx kinda' uses them _all the damn time_?" Roxas crossed his arms accusingly.

"Dude! That's 'cause he's like a frickin' kid stuck in an older dude's body!"

Roxas looked at Axel pointedly with an eyebrow raised. "_Ax_, just _listen_ to yourself for a second and tell me you did _not_ just say '_dude'_ twice."

Axel laughed. "Alright, alright. Yeah, we're _all_ High Schoolers here. But seriously Rox, come spend some time with us too. I don't know why you think you still belong with the other kids in your grade. Sora and Kairi, I can understand. I can even understand you hanging with Nam. But the _Twilights_? Man, you belong with _Org Five_!"

Roxas glared. "No, you ass. I belong with the _Almighty Gang of_ _Keybladers_," he snapped sarcastically, earning a blank stare from the redhead.

"You… made up your own gang with Sora and Riku?" the redhead said weakly, looking hurt.

"No!" Roxas threw up his hands exasperatedly, unable to believe how gullible Axel was. "My point is… Argh! Ax, you're categorizing us into different segregated cliques and act as if you have a problem with that! _Why_? I happen to really like Hayner and Olette and Pence, and they happen to really like _me_."

"Rox, does that not apply to us?"

"…" Roxas was speechless.

"Hah! Gotcha' there!"

"You can't just ask me to ditch my friends from _my grade_ to go hang with -"

"You _other_ friends? From _another grade_?"

Roxas scowled.

Axel sighed and spread his lanky arms out wide in defeat. "Okay, fine. Lunch today, get your little gang to come sit with us at the Organization table. Maybe we could afford to expand our circle a little."

Roxas looked startled at the sudden surprising gesture. "You sure?" His expression changed to that of doubt. "It isn't exactly _normal_ for Juniors to join Seniors at a table. It's like, against some unwritten High School law or custom or something…"

"Well, we'd be the first to break that tradition, now, won't we?" Axel winked. "Besides, I think it's about time I got to know this Hayner guy a little more. And maybe get even with him for breaking my goddamn nose."

"Right, right. If this is just about the nose..."

"Relax, Roxie! _Chill out!_"

Roxas smacked the taller senior upside the head. "Watch your Preppy-Talk, idiot."

Axel grinned stupidly in response. "I really love your terms of endearment, you crazy kid, you."

"_Bite me_," Roxas growled warningly.

"Why Roxas! Was that an invitation of some sort?"

"No. It was the Preppy thing talking."

-

**A/N:** Whee! Who didn't see Axel becoming a basketball player in high school? LOL. Leave a review and tell me if you like or hate it so far, yeah? And put it on Alert or whatever. CHEERS.


	2. Drama Queens and Dramatic Scenes

**A/N:** Wow. Fast update! Woohoo! To the wonderful **AnimeAlexis, Tuli-Susi** and **casaragi**: THANKS FOR THE WONDERFUL REVIEWS! You guys totally deserve presents! –Throws a handful of chocolate chip cookies at you guys–

-

Roxas ended up half an hour late for his English lesson. He barged into class anxiously and interrupted Ms Lockhart's teaching. But just as Roxas had expected, she didn't even question the boy's whereabouts nor his unpunctuality. In fact, she was quite happy that he'd decided to turn up to his class after all. That effectively made Roxas feel all the more guilty for missing more than half the lesson.

"Nice to see you again, Roxas," Tifa smiled brightly as she gestured to an empty seat with the book she held in her hand. "We were starting to miss you!"

The blue-eyed blonde quickly ducked his head apologetically, not knowing if she was actually serious, and scrambled to his allocated seat – the one to the left of Kairi.

As he approached the redheaded girl, he flashed her an embarrassed smile which she returned instantly.

"We're on page eighty-four," she whispered quietly, giving him the heads-up. Roxas nodded appreciatively and flipped through his text to the said page. He then glanced up and looked around the class quickly, noting that all his friends were present, save for Pence. Naminé was sitting behind him and he made a mental note to talk to her later about her change of History and Art classes, as well as congratulate her for moving up a grade. Hayner was there too, miraculously recovered from his mystery illness that morning. The blonde was looking at Roxas with a big grin and shaking his head as if he were disappointed in him for being late. Sora was sitting to Kairi's right, and Roxas pointedly shrugged when he met his brother's questioning eyes. And Roxas avoided Olette's gaze altogether as though afraid she might kill him with the piercing look she was sending him.

"We were just going through the various different canonical texts during and after the time of Shakespeare," Tifa explained, more for the late-comer's benefit than anyone elses. "As we all know by now, this is our second week into the reading of the Shakespearian play, Hamlet…"

Tifa continued her lesson as though it were never disrupted. Some students had already started to resume snoozing and nodding away in a dazed stupor, the teacher's voice becoming a hazy buzz to their ears, lulling them into a comfy state of slumber.

A few minutes later, a scrunched-up piece of foolscap paper came hurtling through the air and hit Roxas on the side of his head unceremoniously, effectively making Roxas jump nearly a foot high in his seat. It clung to the blonde spikes of his hair rather extraordinarily for a few seconds before slipping to the floor. Roxas whirled with a growl and looked around in suspicion at the people who sat in the direction the paper ball had come flying from. Among the half-dazed body of kids, he caught Hayner's eyes, looking back at him innocently. _Pick it up_, the other blonde mouthed, gesticulating wildly at the ground whilst Tifa had her back turned.

Roxas raised an eyebrow at his friend's antics before reaching down hastily and snatching the offending projectile from the ground.

He opened up the tightly-scrunched article in a not-so-friendly fashion and spread it out on his desk. A note was scrawled in black ink, quite almost illegible to his eyes.

'_where the hell were u???!! i heard frm olette that u got on the bad side of old mansex. hope he didn't rape u. and did that doofus frm the ANTI-DISAPLINERY committee reelly get suspended 4 the rest of the yr?'_

Roxas stared at the note, glanced back at Hayner (who grinned back stupidly and waved), before looking back at the note once more. He sighed, picked up his pen and scribbled a reply below Hayner's in slightly tidier penmanship.

'_Does Olette hate me now? She seems to think I like to go out of my way to piss teachers off. I've got after-school detention with Vex today thanks to Xem. And yes, Seifer's been suspended. But only till the end of next week.'_

He folded the note neatly and passed it to Kairi. "Hayner," he whispered to the girl. Kairi nodded as she took the memo. Roxas followed the note's little journey as it exchanged hands a few more times from Kairi to Sora (who actually unfolded it to read its contents in unhidden curiosity before being told off by Kairi) to Tidus and finally, to its destined individual.

Roxas focussed his attention back to the front of the class as Tifa suddenly quipped up.

"Alright then, class. I suppose it's time to let you all in on a secret!" she beamed widely. "The Senior Drama students have teamed up with the Theatre Club and are performing a play next week at the school's annual Dance Festival! If you people haven't already bought tickets to the event, _please_ do so! You're all encouraged to see this play. It's based on a modernized and twisted version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. If you're not interested in the Dance Fest, at least come and support your Seniors in their performance! It would be great if this class were exposed to more works of Shakespeare."

A few people actually sat up in their chairs from where they had been slumped over, face-first in their own drool. Babbling gossip and chitchat ensued around the class. Who wouldn't be interested in the most _anticipated_ event of the year? Funny things usually happened on Dance Festival night. The previous year, someone had successfully spiked all the drinks at the food table, leading to half the school turning drunk and stupid. And then someone managed to trip the power, shrouding everyone in darkness for two hours. No one ever caught the culprit, but somehow, Roxas suspected that Larxene, that electricity-obsessed chick, had something to do with it.

This year, the prominently notorious Dance Fest was held next week in the Great Hall. Roxas had already bought tickets, as did his brother and everyone in his own odd circle of friends. So, the Senior Drama and Theatre Club kids were _also_ doing a play during the whole fiesta.

_Well. This should be… interesting_. Roxas knew Demyx did Senior Drama (why wouldn't he?), as did Axel and Larxene. And Zexion was in the Theatre Club, as was Sora's pals Yuffie and Selphie. Hell, Naminé was in the Theatre Club as well.

"Ms Lockhart!" Selphie whined from the front row, "It was meant to be kept a secret!"

Meanwhile, Hayner's note soared through the air once more, this time hitting Kairi in the back through a miscalculated aim. Roxas took the note from a grumbling Kairi and read it.

'_olette thinks u r an angry child who needs to be sent to a metal instatution. anyway, xemnas is an ass. but cheer up. no seifer for 2 weeks! woot! dance next friday! the retard wont be there!'_

Roxas shook his head and tore the note in half, not bothering to reply. Hayner definitely had a problem with spelling. 'Metal instatution'? Suuuure.

After Tifa had set them homework that consisted of reading the next twenty pages of Hamlet, the lesson concluded a few minutes earlier than expected and everyone filed out of the room in a flurry of loud banter. Suddenly, all conversation focused on the upcoming Dance Festival. Everyone seemed extremely hyped up about the whole thing.

Roxas followed his pals out of class. His brother was busily chatting away with Tidus and Selphie whilst Kairi was reprimanding a defensive Hayner for hurling a paper ball at her back. Roxas himself was talking to Naminé, congratulating the petite blonde genuinely.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," she was saying as the whole lot of them unconsciously migrated towards the centre of the hallway, effectively obstructing the pathway of many disgruntled students, "they only just told me about it yesterday."

"That's okay," Roxas assured her, dodging a kid who nearly ran into him from the opposite direction. "Have you told the others?"

"Yes. And Kairi and Olette definitely aren't happy. But then again, neither are you, right?"

Roxas shook his head in disagreement, "I'm just surprised, I guess… So, er, who do you have for History now then?"

"That would be Ansem the Wise-and-Boring," replied a sober voice from directly behind them that sounded very much like…

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, almost running up to the silver-haired teen and launching himself at his friend in excitement. "What did you just have? Huh, _huuuuh_?"

Riku laughed and tried to pry Sora off his arm with great effort. "Math. Before that, I had History with this little genius over here," he looked over at Naminé, who turned a light shade of pink. "Now get _off_, Sora!"

Sora pouted and let go of his friend.

"Every locker on East Wing has been vandalized, if you guys haven't already heard," Riku continued conversationally, his eyes full of suppressed mirth. "All of them have been spray-painted pink, or so I've heard from the Student Council."

"WHAT?" both Sora and Kairi yelled in unison.

"Aw, man!" the brunette sighed, ruffling his hair. "No way…"

Riku shrugged with a grin, clearly enjoying how this was tormenting his two friends, who both of course, had their lockers situated along the East Wing of school. "Blame some Seifer Almasy kid. I think he's in your grade so you should know him."

"Oooh. Is _that_ how he got suspended? Hah!" Hayner cackled. "Man, he's got class!"

"Not funny, Hayner," Kairi admonished reproachfully, her eyes flashing. "Not funny _at all!_ I can't believe you can _still_ laugh knowing that my locker has been assaulted against its will by paint!"

"Hey, at least pink's a girly color!" Hayner defended, causing Sora to yelp dismally. Tidus and Selphie chortled. Kairi _hmph_ed primly, deciding to ignore Hayner for the rest of the day for being so _mean_ to her.

The bell went, a shrilly jingle off in the far distance, causing everyone to flinch and then groan.

"Lockers aside, I guess it's off to the next class now," Roxas muttered. "Who's in Physics with me?"

"Just me!" Sora quipped, saluting to the blonde rather cheerfully despite just distressing over the state of his locker a moment ago. Roxas sighed. An hour with his hyperactive twin brother in a class with the most monotonous and _unreasonable_ Physics professor in the world – Mr Auron. Where was the justice in this world?

"Well, we've got Math now," Selphie said, indicating to Tidus, Hayner, Olette, Kairi and herself. Roxas wished he could go with them, even if that meant having an hour-long class with Mr Lexaeus instead. Hey, at least Lexaeus knew Roxas well enough not to pick on him. Unlike _Sir_ _Auron_.

"I have Art," Naminé murmured and glanced up at Riku. "Uh, I'm not sure where my new classroom is…" she trailed off shyly, looking down at the ground quickly to avoid the older teen's eyes as he shifted his gaze to her.

"Oh. Right," Riku nodded unsuspectingly, "You're also in my Art class now. Hmm… Don't worry, I'll take you there," he promised her, eliciting a small blush from the pale girl.

Sora regarded Naminé rather critically for a few moments, shrugged, and then clapped Riku on the shoulder. "Well, see you at lunch, Riku! The usual spot!" He looked over at Kairi, "You too, Kai!"

And the brunette bounded off, nudging Roxas in the ribs and waving goodbye to everyone else whilst they all scattered in the direction towards their respective classes.

Roxas trudged after his brother slowly, wishing it were lunch time _now_.

"Man, I can't believe Seifer!" Sora said after awhile of walking in silence through a throng of students with his blonde _un_identical twin beside him. "My locker!" the brunette cried out exasperatedly.

Roxas tried not to laugh. "What would you expect from the _Anti_-Disciplinary Committee leader?" he murmured. He recalled that Seifer used to claim being head of the Disciplinary Committee in Twilight Town. How ironic. _And_ moronic. "Hey, _I_ know! Maybe you could go after him with a Keyblade and teach him to never to mess with your locker ever again!" the blonde supplied helpfully, jokingly.

Sora made a noise. "Even if I _could_ somehow get my Keyblade back, I wouldn't whack someone just because he _pimped_ my locker _pink_."

Roxas snorted at Sora's choice of words.

And then Sora seemed to remember something out of the blue. "Oh yeah! I heard you got held back by Xemnas during first period for talking back. Is that why you walked in late?"

Roxas nodded miserably. "Yeah. _Thanks_ for reminding me," he said with a sullen frown. "I can't join you guys after school today. I've been made to suffer an hour with Vexen in detention."

Sora was silent as he mulled this over. Then he shrugged patiently. "Detention doesn't take up the whole of basketball! You can come join us after!"

Roxas looked startled for a moment, then he smiled faintly at his brother. Sora was ever the optimist. "You know what?" the blonde conceded, "You're right. I shouldn't let that jerk get to me."

"Yup!" Sora nodded vigorously, his hair bobbing up and down crazily. "Xemnas just likes provoking you, Rox. Why do you think he loves singling you out and giving you a detention _every other week_? Y'know what? I think you should tell your Organization friends about his latest deed. I'm sure they'll try to get even with him… somehow. They _always_ manage to. Guess it has something to do with how dreadful he used to treat you guys back then."

Roxas laughed. "They don't like Xem. Not by a long shot. _Especially_ Larxene and Axel for some odd reason." Larxene had hidden a dead rat in the History teacher's office once, and it stayed there for about a week before Xemnas managed to locate it – taped under his chair and rotting away.

Sora grinned. "I heard _Mr_ _Marluxia_ has something against Xemmy as well."

"That has to do with him making fun of Marly being a Biology teacher I think." Roxas knew that Xemnas had scoffed at the man with the pink tresses for choosing such a typical field of study.

They reached their Physics classroom and sat down, Sora picking out seats towards the front. Roxas resented Sora for being on friendlier terms with Mr Auron compared to himself. The old man loved to pick on Roxas almost as much as Xemnas did.

"Alright," Mr Auron said gruffly as he walked into the room, his red coat fluttering out behind him, immediately taking control of the noisy class. "Today, we're breaking off into groups of four and doing some hands-on experiments in the name of physical science. So move, _now_."

Sora looked into Roxas' blue eyes.

Roxas looked at Sora's equally blue eyes.

And then, someone from the class next door screamed loudly, causing everyone, including Auron, to jump.

"NOOOOO! MY HAIRRRRRRRRRRRR! YOU… YOU… PYROMANIAC! WHAT DID MY _HAIR_ EVER DO TO _YOU_?!"

Silence.

"_Whoa_… Was that Demyx?" Sora questioned incredulously in a hushed voice.

"Shit." Roxas muttered, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Yeah."

-

**A/N:** Yeah. Shit. Never fuck with Demyx's awesome hair.

Anyhoo, REVIEW:) Because reviews are pure love! And they make me update a lot faster. Seriously.


	3. The Intermission

**A/N:** Okay, I know this is short, but I've been busy and I wanted to post something. (:

-

The much-anticipated Golden Hour, _lunch_, finally rolled around about fifty minutes following the strange yelling from next door. Some had already long forgotten the howling in relation to hair and pyromaniacs. As the highly-regarded Physics educator, Mr Auron, dismissed his class once the bell rang, Sora looked over at his brother with a giant grin, an insanely zealous expression written all over his face.

"_Well!_"

There was a _quality_ in the brunette's voice and Roxas knew what was coming next…

"Reckon we should… go-find-out-what-happened-next-door-with-Dem?"

The brunette's burning question hung in the air suggestively as Roxas rolled his eyes apathetically, mutely unable to comprehend why his brother would be so concerned with such a _trivial_ matter. These sorts of ridiculous episodes cropped up all the damn time way back when the blonde had been in Organization XIII. And every unfortunate incident seemed to always, _always_ happen to the pitiable Melodious Nocturne for some reason.

Or Saïx.

But Roxas suspected that the only reason why the blue-haired freak of nature suffered was because he wasn't exactly very well-received by his fellow colleagues. At all.

They had _all sorts_ of oddballs in the Organization.

Larxene was the Insensitive Bitch. And she still is.

Marluxia was the damn grim reaper in disguise. And now he's a Biology teacher that loved to torment Sora in class.

Luxord was the Compulsive Gambler. He _had_ managed to curb that insatiable desire to cheat people of their money a little in this life, thankfully.

Demyx was the Over-sensitive, Hyperactive Whinger. Still is.

Axel was the Traitorous Bastard. Roxas had yet to see if this applied in their current life.

Saix was the Master's Lapdog. It's now the other way around, this time with him being the Headmaster and Xemnas being a lowly member of his staff.

Zexion was the Reclusive Bookworm. Now he was just a smart-ass kid with an emo fringe, capable of nothing but snarky remarks.

Lexaeus was the Reclusive _Recluse_. And now teaches Mathematics, strangely enough.

Vexen was the Mad Scientist (the 'Scientist' part is debateable). Chemistry is now his forte, and his teachings are _law_.

Xaldin was… well, he liked sharp things. He still does. Plus he coaches the Junior basketball team.

Xigbar was the One-Eyed Surfer Dude. He now coaches the Senior basketball team.

And Xemnas took the cake as the Obsessive Control-freak. He _Obsessed_ over Kingdom Hearts and basically _Controlled_ a group of _Freaks_. Now however, he just had supremacy over his History students.

Roxas snapped back to attention, addressing his brother's question.

"Sora, pray tell me. _Why_ are you so interested? I think we both already know the gist of what happened."

"What? That his hair caught fire?"

"Yeah. And we _sort of_ know who the culprit is."

Sora's smile widened. "Only one pyromaniac in this school," he laughed.

"My point exactly. Case closed."

"_Still!_ Dem sounded pretty upset. I hope he's not, y'know, bald. Don't tell him, but I think I kinda' like the whole Mohawk-Mullet thing he's got going."

Roxas sighed. "There's… a strange story behind the whole Mullet-hawk. And you probably don't wanna' know." The two stepped out into the corridor. "C'mon, it's lunch time. You can go catch up with the group of them and see what happened to him at the cafeteria. Axel invited my gang to go sit with my… other gang. Your gang can pop by if you want."

"Oh, cool!" Sora bobbed his head rapidly. "Yeah, I haven't talked to those Seniors in awhile. Right! Okay! Awesome! I'm off to my locker to put these away," he waved his books haphazardly in front of Roxas' face, nearly poking his eye out. "And maybe I'll get to see just how pink my locker is," the brunette made a face. "See you later, Rox!"

Roxas watched as Sora flew down the hallway and disappeared around the corner before going off in the opposite direction towards West Wing to drop his own books off and retrieve some cash for purchasing food. A burger and soda sounded good right about now, followed shortly by the yummy goodness of sea-salt ice cream. Not quite the healthiest of diets. But damn, there was only one word to describe it: _awesome_.

_BANG!_

Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin as the door to the locker next to his slammed open forcefully with a metallic clang. The blonde looked around apprehensively to find Cloud sullenly throwing stuff into his locker and violently rummaging for something within. He looked unhappy. _Pissed_ would be the more appropriate term.

"Uh, you… okay?" Roxas asked cautiously, as though afraid that the older kid might bite his head off. He _did_ look like he was capable of doing that right about now and Roxas didn't think he could afford to lose such a precious part of his body for no reason.

"Fine, just _fine_," Cloud snapped. "Just... ugh, damn the Student Council!" He fumed for a split-second, then viciously plucked his Prefect badge from his shirt and chucked it into the locker where it splintered.

Roxas looked startled. Well now, _this_ piqued his interest. "What's up? Aren't _you_ part of the Council?"

That was an actual fact. Cloud Strife was a Prefect in the prestigious Student Council, a group of dedicated students and staff members working towards helping other kids in various areas of school life. The Council was initially founded by the school nurse, Ms Gainsborough, and Ms Lockhart. The two staff members worked to recruit worthy Seniors and Juniors alike into their Council of Prefects.

The older blonde ran a hand through his messy hair in frustration. "Not if they plan to kick me out!"

"They plan to kick you out?" Roxas echoed lamely, which made him want to berate himself for sounding like some insensitive emokid.

"'_Him_' is a more definitive word," Cloud spat, not caring that Roxas sounded impartial to the whole thing. "I'm lucky Leon and Riku's been defending my ass or that idiot would already have me out."

"Er, who…?"

"_Him!_ That shithead Sephiroth! He's been on my case since day one!"

"Oh."

Sephiroth was Head Prefect. Sephiroth didn't like Cloud. Quite obviously.

"Just what is he _thinking_? On what grounds does he have the right to kick me out?" Cloud went on angrily, continuing his self-destruction of the contents in his locker.

"What in the world did you do to piss him off?"

"_I_ don't know, _blink_ at him?!" Cloud exploded derisively.

Roxas shut his locker. "Uh. Try 'assault him with a sharp, pointy stick in my previous life'. Yeah. Sounds about right."

"Shut it, kid," Cloud brought a hand up to palm his face tiredly and sighed, "before I decide to murder you."

Roxas smiled blandly. "Well, you go figure something out. And um… good luck! You definitely have _my_ vote." The Junior sped off down the hallway hastily, catching the last few words of Cloud's exasperated outburst – "OH YEAH, LIKE THAT'S SO GONNA HELP!"


End file.
